The need for medicine cabinet locks is well known and widely publicized in connection with the protection of small children by preventing their access to dangerous drugs and poisons. Millions of medicine cabinets are already in use in homes which possess no safety locking means and there is an urgent need for a practical and economical attachment lock for these existing cabinets which will render them safe without interference with their normal usage and without the necessity for defacing or drastically altering the existing cabinet structure. Ideally, the attachment safety lock should be such that it can be installed readily by the home owner with a minimum of expense and labor.
It is the objective of the invention, therefore, to satisfy the above-defined need by providing a simplified lock for medicine cabinet doors, and which is also applicable to a variety of additional cabinet closures, such as the drawers and doors of office filing cabinets, supply cabinets, gun cases and the like. The invention is characterized by its simplicity of construction, its sturdiness, its ease of installation and applicability to a variety of different types of cabinets such as those above enumerated. It can readily be installed on a medicine cabinet or another type of cabinet by the home owner, and the installation requires no more than the use of a hand drill for drilling a pair of mounting holes and a screwdriver for attaching the base of the invention to a cabinet side wall.
Another virtue of the invention, particularly in certain embodiments thereof, is that it is compatible with the basic mechanisms of certain conventional types of portable locks, thus rendering it economical and practical to manufacture by certain established manufacturers of locks without significant tooling changes.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following detailed description.